Last Thursday I left Mississippi and headed to Wyoming for an antelope hunt with my dad. I met me dad in Missouri and we finished the long drive to Wyoming. We crossed the border into Wyoming as the sun was rising Friday morning. We started seeing plenty of mule deer and antelope but we still had a long way to get to our unit.
We finally arrived to our unit and started to drive the roads to find some antelope. We didn't have to go far to start seeing hundreds of antelope. We drove down a dead end road and got out to glass some grassland bottoms. There were a bunch of antelope that were a long ways away from any roads. We set up camp in the area and drove around to look for more antelope.
This was our first antelope hunt and I'm not really good at judging antelope especially from a long ways away but we looked over a lot of bucks and I had an idea of what was average for the unit. We headed back to camp in the evening and I took the camera out to do some filming. I spotted a group of a does and a nice buck. He looked to have good mass and a very good curl. He would be our focus for opening morning.
We woke up opening morning and started walking to our spot in the dark. Dad was up first and we were excited to start our hunt. My dad wasn't going to be picky but I wanted him to shoot a decent animal so I had to constantly remind him that we could let the small ones pass. The sun was poking over the hills and I spotted a buck about 1000 yards away in a little canyon and we snuck around to get a shot. As we got closer I could see that it was the same buck I had seen the day before and he was a shooter for us. We got to within 250 yds and we ran out of cover. My dad tried to steady himself to get a shot but couldn't get comfortable. We decided to crawl up about 20 yards to get to a little rise where he could lay down and shoot. We got set up and he squeezed off a shot. The buck immediately dropped and we had our first antelope on the ground within the first hour of hunting. We packed the buck out about a mile and put him in the cooler. Now it was my turn.
Since we had already shot one buck I was ready to be picky for the next couple of days and just enjoy the hunt. We stalked a lot of different antelope and I passed on quite a few decent bucks but I didn't see anything that was what I wanted. We still had a blast though watching bucks chasing does, fighting, and we even saw bucks breeding. We had a whole herd walk within 100 yds and bed down.
The next morning we went out and saw plenty of antelope but again nothing that I wanted to shoot. We saw plenty of people driving around but nobody got out of their trucks, the antelope were definitely weary of vehicles. So we went to some nastier terrain that wasn't your typical antelope country. I spot a group bedded by a big ditch. We snuck down the ditch and got to within 100 yds but again the bucks weren't what I was wanting. The antelope actually fed to within 15yds while we laid motionless in the ditch. We both really enjoyed the experience and decided to head back to the truck.
We took a different route around to check some areas and we spotted four antelope skylined on a ridge and one looked pretty good. He was the tallest pronghorn we had seen yet but I didn't want to shoot a skylined animal. We waited until they went over the edge and got set up. He spotted us but couldn't tell what we were and tried to get down wind. I decided he was what I wanted and took the shot. He ran off and neither of us knew if I had hit it even though it felt good. We went to check it out and he was dead at the bottom of the ridge. We were ecstatic and had plenty of hugs and smiles.
This was our first rifle hunt for any big game species and our first antelope hunt. I was so glad to spend this time with my dad and the only thing I wish I could change was to be able to make it last longer. We ended up hunting prairie dogs and scouting other units to fill some time before we headed home. It was an awesome experience that I'll never forget and I loved spending the time with my dad.
We finally arrived to our unit and started to drive the roads to find some antelope. We didn't have to go far to start seeing hundreds of antelope. We drove down a dead end road and got out to glass some grassland bottoms. There were a bunch of antelope that were a long ways away from any roads. We set up camp in the area and drove around to look for more antelope.
This was our first antelope hunt and I'm not really good at judging antelope especially from a long ways away but we looked over a lot of bucks and I had an idea of what was average for the unit. We headed back to camp in the evening and I took the camera out to do some filming. I spotted a group of a does and a nice buck. He looked to have good mass and a very good curl. He would be our focus for opening morning.
We woke up opening morning and started walking to our spot in the dark. Dad was up first and we were excited to start our hunt. My dad wasn't going to be picky but I wanted him to shoot a decent animal so I had to constantly remind him that we could let the small ones pass. The sun was poking over the hills and I spotted a buck about 1000 yards away in a little canyon and we snuck around to get a shot. As we got closer I could see that it was the same buck I had seen the day before and he was a shooter for us. We got to within 250 yds and we ran out of cover. My dad tried to steady himself to get a shot but couldn't get comfortable. We decided to crawl up about 20 yards to get to a little rise where he could lay down and shoot. We got set up and he squeezed off a shot. The buck immediately dropped and we had our first antelope on the ground within the first hour of hunting. We packed the buck out about a mile and put him in the cooler. Now it was my turn.
Since we had already shot one buck I was ready to be picky for the next couple of days and just enjoy the hunt. We stalked a lot of different antelope and I passed on quite a few decent bucks but I didn't see anything that was what I wanted. We still had a blast though watching bucks chasing does, fighting, and we even saw bucks breeding. We had a whole herd walk within 100 yds and bed down.
The next morning we went out and saw plenty of antelope but again nothing that I wanted to shoot. We saw plenty of people driving around but nobody got out of their trucks, the antelope were definitely weary of vehicles. So we went to some nastier terrain that wasn't your typical antelope country. I spot a group bedded by a big ditch. We snuck down the ditch and got to within 100 yds but again the bucks weren't what I was wanting. The antelope actually fed to within 15yds while we laid motionless in the ditch. We both really enjoyed the experience and decided to head back to the truck.
We took a different route around to check some areas and we spotted four antelope skylined on a ridge and one looked pretty good. He was the tallest pronghorn we had seen yet but I didn't want to shoot a skylined animal. We waited until they went over the edge and got set up. He spotted us but couldn't tell what we were and tried to get down wind. I decided he was what I wanted and took the shot. He ran off and neither of us knew if I had hit it even though it felt good. We went to check it out and he was dead at the bottom of the ridge. We were ecstatic and had plenty of hugs and smiles.
This was our first rifle hunt for any big game species and our first antelope hunt. I was so glad to spend this time with my dad and the only thing I wish I could change was to be able to make it last longer. We ended up hunting prairie dogs and scouting other units to fill some time before we headed home. It was an awesome experience that I'll never forget and I loved spending the time with my dad.
